Mushroom Ragu

A few weeks ago (maybe even a few months ago now!) I ate at Orchard City Kitchen in Campbell and was completely blown away by their trumpet mushroom carpaccio. I never would have ordered it myself, but the waiter convinced a friend to try it and we were all super happy when it arrived. Piles of thinly shaved mushrooms with thin shavings of Parmigiano, avocado aioli, and a Meyer lemon truffle oil. So simple, but so incredible. When I saw the raw mushroom salad in Market Cooking, it reminded me of those trumpet mushrooms, so that's what I planned to make... but then I posted options(!) in the recipe vote and this mushroom ragu won the day instead.

I'm not mad about it.

The first time I made this, I only had cremini mushrooms to make the ragu, rather than the whole mix suggested by David Tanis. This is what happens when you shop for a recipe at the beginning of the week but only get around to making it the next week... Someone cooks the best mushrooms in the fridge in the meanwhile, leaving only the most conventional ones.

I didn't have any fancy mushrooms to finish this cremini mushroom ragu version 1.0.... and it suffered. The sauce was good, but it tasted more like tomatoes than it did mushrooms, and pairing it with tasteless kelp noodles didn't help.

It seemed like I had failed this mushroom ragu, rather than the other way around, so I tried again. This time, I only had shiitake mushrooms, because while Tanis' headnote opines that a ½ pound of chanterelles won't break the bank, it was really hard to justify $50/lb to myself. I'm sure they would only improve the mushroominess of the ragu, if you find yourself in possession of some luxury mushrooms.

Where mushroom ragu version 1.0 was more tomato than mushroom, version 2.0 with shiitakes was super packed with earthy, rich mushroom flavor. Instead of cruelly pairing it with bland noodles, I added spinach and poached chicken; it was completely satisfying.

Before you cook:

There have been a few posts around the internet about salting mushrooms when cooking and the published results conclude that pan-seared mushrooms should be mostly cooked before salting to yield the most flavorful results. So, I changed the methods to reflect that.

If you don't have tomato paste and/or fresh tomatoes, you can use just under ⅓ a 14-oz can of puréed tomatoes (add about 4oz) to replace them both.

Barely adapted from: David Tanis Market Cooking

Mushroom Ragu

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Course: Side, Vegetarian

Cuisine: British

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

• 1 ½ pounds cultivated brown mushrooms such as cremini, shiitake, or portobellos
• ½ pound pale wild mushrooms such as chanterelles (or use cultivated king trumpet or oyster mushrooms)
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil divided
• 1 large onion diced
• Salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon chopped thyme
• 1 teaspoon chopped sage or rosemary
• Pinch crushed red pepper or cayenne
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 3 small ripe tomatoes peeled, seeded and chopped*
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 2 cups porcini mushroom or chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 cloves garlic grated or minced
• 3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

Porcini Mushroom Broth (makes 3 cups)

• ½ cup dried porcini or other wild mushrooms crumbled
• 1 small onion sliced
• 6 scallions chopped
• 1 medium celery stalk chopped
• 1 medium carrot chopped
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 4 cups water

Instructions

For the porcini broth

• Place all the ingredients together in a large saucepan, then place the pan over high heat until the mixture comes to a boil.
• Immediately reduce the heat to low and simmer the broth for 30 minutes.
• Strain the simmered broth through a fine-mesh sieve. [Can be refrigerated for 1 week or frozen for several months for future use.]

For the ragu

• Clean all the mushrooms, keeping the types/colors separate. Trim the tough end of the stems, or if using shiitakes, completely remove their woody stems (save these for broth). Slice mushrooms into ⅛-inch thick pieces.
• Dice the onion.
• Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil to a wide & deep skillet, place over medium-high heat, then add the onion, a generous pinch of salt and cracked black pepper to the pan. Cook the seasoned onions, stirring occasionally, until softened and browned, about 25-30 minutes. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside.
• While the onions are cooking, prep the remaining vegetables. Mince the garlic. Blanch, peel, seed, and chop the tomatoes *(or simply use ~6 ounces of pureed tomato). Chop the parsley.
• Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the (now empty) pan and turn the heat to high. Add the brown (cremini, shiitake, portobello,...) mushrooms and fry without stirring for 1-2 minutes, until they pick up some color. Stir to flip the mushroom pieces, cooking another 1-2 minutes until browned on each side. Lower the heat to medium, season the mushrooms with a pinch of salt and pepper, then add the thyme, sage, crushed red pepper, tomato paste, and chopped tomatoes (or pureed tomatoes). Stir well and continue cooking for another minute.
• Sprinkle the flour over top the mushroom mixture, stir to incorporate, and cook another 1 minute until the flour disappears. Add in the onion.
• Add 1 cup of the porcini broth (or chicken or vegetable) and stir gently until the sauce begins to thicken, about 1-2 minutes. Gradually add the remaining 1 cup of broth, cook another 2 minutes. The sauce should now have the consistency of gravy: If it's too thick, add a little more broth. If it's too thin, continue cooking and stirring until it thickens. Adjust the seasoning (salt, pepper, chile flake) to taste. Remove from the heat while you work on the chanterelles (or serve as is). [You can stop here and refrigerate the ragu for hours/a day before proceeding.]
• Add the final 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the butter to a clean wide skillet set over medium-high heat. Once the butter starts to brown, add the chanterelles, season them with salt and pepper, and saute for about 2 minutes or until they begin to brown and are cooked through. Add the minced garlic and chopped parsley, stir to coat and cook for another minute to cook out the raw garlic.
• Add the cooked chanterelles to the mushroom ragu and serve (over bread, polenta, couscous, pasta, veggies, etc.).